Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Ralph Wilson Park Conservancy provided construction updates to the Buffalo community Tuesday regarding the first phase of the two-phase $110 million Ralph Wilson Centennial Park project, which includes more details surrounding the new pedestrian bridge and progress on the ambitious and transformative shoreline project.
"Work started in July of 2023, with a focus on the shoreline at the south end," explained Katie Campos, Ralph Wilson Park Conservancy's Executive Director in an interview with WBEN.
"There used to be a hard cement seawall that created a lot of flooding in the park, and that is being transformed into a natural sloping seawall. That's where the work really started, with an armored stone shoreline on the south end and some work to create an inlet to create some breakwaters and a natural habitat beyond that and then the foundation for the pedestrian bridge, which is being delivered to the park this summer and installed over the highway."
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Shoreline work
Gilbane Building Company's Lead Superintendent for this project, Sean Sullivan, further highlighted work already complete in the shoreline project.
"We built an armored stoneline that we use for the naturalization, but also for protection. These stones are set in place in a way where they're going to absorb the heavy weather, taking on the brunt of the waves that have splashed all the way up to the condos."
Sullivan describes what they are building as a lagoon which will eventually be populated with new wildlife.
"We are going to etch out this lagoon in the shape of a kidney bean. As this work happens, we can only do it at a section at a time. We have to take a little bit out, and then because of erosion purposes, we have to stop. My demo crew will then move to the west side of the park and work north on the shoreline as the stone placement crew comes in and does that extra protection inside of the lagoon. So in tandem, we will have a demo team excavating the inlet and we'd have a stone placement team than fielding the position."
"If you build it, they will come," notes Jill Jedlicka, Executive Director of Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper. "The types of vegetation and the types of environments that are being implemented in this area will also start to attract different species again. We are not designing the shoreline to attract one individual species, one target species. We do know that emerald shiners, who are really the basis of the food chain, will have better areas for forage and be able to have space for habitat for potential muskie and even sturgeon."
Pedestrian bridge
A new pedestrian bridge, which will act as the central walkway connecting the park to the Buffalo's Lower West Side is currently being manufactured in Italy right now.
Campos tells WBEN that Cimolai, a international construction firm headquartered just outside of Venice, is fabricating the bridge structure that is 265 feet long and 22 feet wide and will weigh about 220 tons.
It will be delivered by two barges across the Atlantic Ocean in the late summer of this year and will be installed in the fall.
"This is a massive undertaking," notes Campos. "Gilbane and the City of Buffalo have been in close contact with the New York State Thruway Authority and with CSX because there's a train that runs right by there, and they're going to have to close the highway. I think they're going to be given up to 12 hours [to install]. And they're going to put in place this the new signature bridge and take down the old bridge in one swoop."
Once the bridge is installed and the project is complete, you will soon be able to see the new hilly and elevated terrain the park will offer, with more bike and walking paths, updated sports fields and ample space for activities such as kayaking.
Campos notes that this park will reopen in phases starting in 2026. She anticipates the project being a two-phase project.